Meat bosses: Getting hot under their collars?

March 2010

-USA: What is "unconscionable and an insensitive slap in the face" to livestock farmers and meat-eating residents?” Answer, according to the Michigan Farm Bureau: The proclamation of Meatout Day (20 March) in Michigan by Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Why such a public outburst? After all, an almighty US meat industry can't be afraid of the rolling vegetarian wave? more

-Fortunately all the objections to Meatout Day won't change the facts: More Americans say they're avoiding meat.... more

-Also the UK livestock industry is lamenting because the chain Tesco recommended to buy local and seasonal produce and informed consumers a vegetarian diet would use less energy than a meat-based diet... more

Slaughterhouses with glass walls ...

...or at least with CCTV soon in UK? Tim Smith, chief executive of the Food Standards Agency, said he intended to develop a detailed plan for the industry within six months. … The agency was set up almost ten years ago in the aftermath of the BSE scandal, but there are still concerns about standards in the meat industry... more

-Slaughterhouses: Music legend and activist Paul McCartney delivers a powerful narration of this must-see video.... more

-Jamie: "If you eat meat you've got to accept sooner or later it's going to die," he says calmy while a hapless pig is being sacrificed for Sunday roast... more

How about some superbugs with your lunch?

-Mad Cow Disease Case Hidden For Weeks By Canadian and U.S. Agencies
..Both the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the USDA admit that there is no way to test live animals for BSE.. more

-USA: A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that in the United States, 70 percent of antibiotics are used to feed healthy livestock, with 14 percent more used to treat sick livestock... more

-EU/EFSA publishes survey on Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken in the EU
…In most EU Member States, a high prevalence of Campylobacter was found in chickens, whereas Salmonella was less frequently detected. These zoonoses are the cause of the two most reported food-borne diseases in humans in the EU: campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis… more

What kind of meat is it anyway: Whale or pork?

- Iceland exported whale meat as animal feed to EU ...Despite the ban on trade in the EU Iceland last year managed to export 22 tonnes of whale meat as animal feed to Denmark and even small quantities were exported to Latvia(...) The import of whale products in EU countries is prohibited, because of the current worldwide ban on commercial hunting of these marine mammals.... more

-1 in 10 Chinese adults are diabetics, study finds / After working overtime to catch up to life in the West, China now faces a whole new problem: the world's biggest diabetes epidemic... more
And: Eating processed meat may increase the risk for heart disease and even diabetes, U.S. researchers suggest... more

-USA: The Breathtaking Effects Of Cutting Back On Meat
...If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would save:
● 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months;
● 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year;
● 70 million gallons of gas--enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare;
● 3 million acres of land, an area more than twice the size of Delaware;
● 33 tons of antibiotics..
more

-UN body to look at meat and climate link
UN specialists are to look again at the contribution of meat production to climate change, after claims that an earlier report exaggerated the link.
Note: Please compare the claims made by Frank Mitloehner to the report "Livestock and Climate Change':...'But recent analysis by Goodland and Anhang finds that livestock and their byproducts actually account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions'...
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Quote: A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite.
--Leo Tolstoy